


As the Stars Crash

by Traxits



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Angst, Childhood, Gen, choosing a name, chosen family, introspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-28 19:44:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7654273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Traxits/pseuds/Traxits
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ellone folded her arms over the decorative rails, and she leaned forward to prop her chin up on her forearm.  She watched the water, watched the way the stars seemed to have fallen in it to crash against the sides of the boat. Uncle Laguna would have had a story that he'd have forgotten halfway through. Raine would have had poetry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As the Stars Crash

The ship was the worst place she'd ever had to be in her life. And that included the lab where she'd been trapped until--

_See... I told ya I'd come save you..._

Ellone swallowed, and she glanced back over her shoulder. The older kids were some ways away from her, giving her something that pretended to be privacy as much as she pretended to be okay here. As though she could be okay trapped on a boat with new kids and Squall and the others back with Matron.

She sighed, crouching down until she could sit on the edge of the deck. The others were fine. They had Seifer and Quistis to look after them, and both of them were so terribly brave. They were brave in ways that Ellone was sure she never would be, in ways she could only hope that Squall learned. He'd have the time to.

She folded her arms over the decorative rails, and she leaned forward to prop her chin up on her forearm. She watched the water, watched the way the stars seemed to have fallen in it to crash against the sides of the boat.

Uncle Laguna would have had a story that he'd have forgotten halfway through.

Raine would have had poetry.

Squall would have expected Ellone to have something for him, and she was glad, no matter how much she missed him, that he was back in the orphanage. Matron would have much better than the half-remembered things Ellone could have told him.

She closed her eyes instead of watching as the stars flung themselves against the boat, and she breathed. There was nothing but salt in the air here. No scent from the flowers. No heavy stews cooking in the kitchen to feed everyone. She rubbed her eyes, dragged in another breath, and she squeezed her hands tight to keep from shaking.

It wasn't their fault that she was here. It wasn't their fault that she was an instrument of such devastation and destruction that she'd had to be taken away.

_Maybe I'm a lion, too._

Her shoulders trembled, and she sucked in a breath. Squall's voice, and he'd grow up thinking... what, that she'd left him?

No. They both still shared that name, after all. 

(Ellone had screamed the first time someone had tried to take Raine's baby from her. She had screamed and Squall had screamed and everyone had jerked their hands back, still wet with the blood. She hadn't been able to give him up, not her only connection to Raine and to Laguna, and she had held him until Edea had shown up, kind eyes and warm smiles and promised that they could be together.)

( ~~She'd lied.~~ )

But that name... How many times had Uncle Laguna called her that? His little lion and growled and chased her?

She leaned back, wrapping her arms around her middle as she looked up at the sky. She'd never been a lion.

If she'd been a lion, Uncle Laguna wouldn't have needed to come and get her.

If she'd been a lion, Uncle Laguna and Raine and Squall would be a family. A real family.

If she'd been a lion, maybe her own parents wouldn't--

She blinked quickly, then reached up to rub the heel of her palm against her eyes. She didn't want the others to see. Edea had been teaching her about poise, about what it meant to be someone with power, to be someone that others...

Eloone looked over her shoulder at the others, and she watched the way more than one jerked their head to look away from her. She pressed her lips together, took another deep breath, and she straightened her back. She couldn't cry.

What had she told Seifer and Squall and Zell? They had to be brave. It was her turn.

She lifted her chin.

She wasn't a lion, though. She never had been.

Her jaw tightened, and when one of the other kids met her gaze, she smiled.

Maybe Squall was a lion. Maybe he'd wear that name better than she had. But she was going to be a Loire.

Because Uncle Laguna would come and rescue her. It might take him a little while, but...

She tilted her head back to look up at the stars overhead.

He'd come for her, just like he had when she'd thought it was hopeless.


End file.
